Halford & Brough in the Morning - Will The JT Miller Captaincy Pay Off For The Rangers?

Episode Date: September 17, 2025

In hour one, Mike & Jason look back at the previous day in sports (3:00), plus they speak with 4EverBlueshirts New York Rangers reporter Jim Cerny (26:27) about the JT Miller captaincy announcement, and if it was the right move for the Rangers. This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da. You're listening to Halford and Brough. Swung on and blasted. Right field. History on its way. It is gone. Cow-rolley, crowned. If you want to crown them, then crown your ass.

The 1-0-0-Pitch, Otani launches high in the air. Deep right field, number 50 emphatically leaves the yard. Good morning, Vancouver, 6-1 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. It is Halford. It is Brough. It is SportsNet 650, and we are coming to you live from the Kintech Studios and beautiful Fairview Slopes in Vancouver.

Jason, good morning. Good morning. Adog, good morning to you. Good morning to you as well. Hello, hello. Halford and Brought for the morning is brought to you by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal reduces your debt by up to 80%. But no more interest.

Visit them online at Sands dash trustee.com. We are in hour one of the program. Hour one is brought to by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's premier metal recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle. You get paid. Visit them at 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. We are coming to you live from the Kintech Studio, Kintech Footwear and Orthotics,

working together with you in step. We've got a big show ahead on a Wednesday. Hump Day, everybody. It's also the unofficial start of Canucks training camp. We got a lot to get into guest list today. Now, we were supposed to have Larry Brooks on at 6.30 to talk about J.T. Miller and the Regents' Captaincy story. That's not going to happen.

So first hour of the Halford & Brough show, all Halford and Brough. First guest today, 7 o'clock. Frank Serr Valley is going to join the program. Noted NHL Insider, we got news from across the National Hockey League. We got updates on Caprizov in Minnesota, where Carter Hart might sign. Spoiler, it's not going to be in Edmonton or Philly. J.T. Miller, as we mentioned, is the new captain in New York. There's a Marty Natchez contract situation brewing in Colorado, and he's got updates on Mitch Love in Washington as well.

That's all coming up with Frank Sarvalley. It's 7 o'clock this morning, our NHL insider. 7.30, Nat Domichelli is going to join the program. Remember that name? Played in the NHL for a while. I remember from the world juniors in like 96 or something like that. Now he is the new general manager of the Vancouver Giants. A pretty distinguished career prior to joining the Giants.

Spent six seasons in the Swiss League with Lugano is their general manager. Also served as the assistant GM of Team Canada at the Spangler. The Giants opened their WHL campaign this Saturday, Jason, get this at home, Langley Events Center, 7 p.m. puck drop against the Pantictin. V. Ah, the new guys. The new guys will be going to the Langley Events Center on Saturday. We'll talk to Nat Domiceli, new general manager of the giants about all that at 7.30.

8 o'clock, Randy Janda is going to join the program. Canucks radio analyst right here on SportsNet 650. As I mentioned, the Canucks are hosting season opening media availability this morning at approximately 10 a.m. at Rogers Arena. Jim Rutherford, Patrick Alvin. And for me, and I think Jason, most interestingly, Adam Foote will be at the podium to take questions from the assembled media. We can throw some questions that Foote might get asked at Randeep.

What's the focus going to be going into training camp and in training camp? Does the new head coach have a plan to, I don't know, create more scoring chances for this season? Remember this previous head coach tried that last training camp. Two mixed results. They weren't mixed. Universally didn't work. I was trying to be positive. It wasn't terrible.

If they were mixed, they would have kept some of it. They were just like, let's go back to the old way. They scored some goals, some goals. They also conceded some goals. Randy Jand is going to join us at eight. Nat Domiceli at 7.30. Frank Saravalee, it's seven. We got a lot to get into on the program.

So without further ado, Lattie, let's tell everybody what happened. Hey, did you guys see the game last night? No. No. What happened? I missed all the action because I was. We know how busy your life can be. What happened?

You missed that? What happened is brought to you by the BC Construction Safety Alliance. Making safety simpler by giving construction companies the best in tools, resources, and safety training. Visit them online at BCCSA.ca.c.a. Even with all the hockey news swirling and the anticipation of Canucks training camp, we still got to start with the baseball. The Js and the Mariners continue to provide hot content and exciting times. every single night.

This time, yet again, it was the big dumper, Cal Raleigh, making more history yesterday, a pair of home runs to help the Seattle Mariners win their 10th straight game, 12-5 over the Royals on Tuesday night. In doing so, hitting the two home runs, Raleigh matched the Seattle single-season record for home runs set by Kang Griffey Jr. He also broke the record for home runs

by a switch hitter in a single season, that was set by Mickey Mantle. Cow Rally, the big dumper, now up there in the pantheon of all-time MLB greats with Ken Griffey Jr. and Mickey Mantle, here's what it sounded like, courtesy Rick Riz, legendary radio voice of the Mariners. Rally goes yard twice.

Mariners win, 12-5. SoCal back in the box, one ball, one strike. Here's the pitch. Swung on and blasted. Right field. History on its way. gone. Cal Raleigh, crown him. Number 55 for Cal. Already the all-time single-season home run catcher king, and now the most ever in a single season for a switch hitter. He surpasses Mickey

Mantle. The legendary march through history for Cal Raleigh in a season we will. We will will never, ever forget. My apologies for thinking I sent along a Rick Riz call. It was Gary Hill Jr., the other radio guy. Rick was there. Does that count? Does that make it better? He was in the room.

He was in the room. He was in the vicinity of that call. He was probably pretty excited while it was happening. I imagine he was. So the Mariners, despite this 10-game winning streak, just can't put a big gap between themselves and the Houston Astros. The Astros took their second straight game over the Rangers last night to remain a half-game basketball.

of the Mariners, but I started looking at the standing last night. MLB.com forward slash standings. Good web page. The Mariners are only two games back of the Tigers for that second spot. Could you imagine a world, Laddie, could you imagine a world where the Jays and the Mariners get those all-important buys in the first round of the playoffs and are on a collision course for the ALCS? Yeah, I'm sure Major League Baseball loves the fact that Seattle and Toronto are the two

top markets Toronto's a big market Toronto's a big market It's got all in Canada Don't tell all of Canada That they got all a Canada None of the ratings count though For the states

Is there any way that Big Dumper can Make a late charge And win MVP It's stupid that he's not going to win MVP And it's because of his batting average

The odds suggest that it's still It's even more heavily Yeah and it's dumb The odds are stupid Yeah I don't normally say this Because I love gambling But the odd Well actually

The odds are stupid. It doesn't, he is having an all-timer season at a position that I think everyone that knows baseball understands, and I hate putting it this way, but it goes beyond the box scores and beyond the metrics. Being a full-time catcher and playing the amount that he does, he has, he has such an impact on the game, touching the ball literally every play that's in a major league baseball game. And yeah, he's got a lousy batting average. And I don't know where he's out with his strikeouts, but it's, you know, know. I mean, Judge is having a good year, man.

Judge is having a good year. He's got 48 home runs, batting 326. Calarale has 56 home runs. Okay, what's his batting average? 244. Right. And it might have dropped last year. That's 80 points he's got him on batting average.

Yeah, I know the math. Okay. I know that his batting average is unbecoming of an MVP. And I think that might end up being what kills him at the end. But we exist in a modern baseball climate landscape where batting averages mattered less. than ever. Now, 24. That would be funny if that's how the voters

explain it. It was like, his batting average was unbecoming of an MVP. I think that's what's happening. I honestly think that's what's happening. He should, I mean,

by all rights, he should get it. Because I also, and yes, Judge has been the catalyst for a very, very average Yankees team, I would say.

But this to me is kind of a rip-off of a guy where you could really celebrate a catcher and a guy that is putting in, the dirty work and the grind and behind the plate and not missing a game and taking all the physical abuse that comes with catching full time. But they're not going to do it. They're going

to give a tear and judge. It's a damn shame. Okay, let's talk about the Blue Jays. Um, they also won and Laddie's in Halford's here right now. No, we're good. We're good. We're going to talk about the J's last night. So that's where we're on. Yeah. Sorry guys, I didn't hear you. Uh, Nathan Lucas was involved in all kind of theatrics yesterday for the Jays. involved in a pair of video reviews for home runs, one in the plate and one at the field as the Blue Jays beat the race 6-5 on Tuesday night for their six straight win.

Now, the really, really controversial one came when Brandon Lowe was at the plate for the raise and jacked a three-run home run of Jose Burrios in the third. Now, on replay, it was pretty clear that there was fan interference in right field from one of the idiots it was at Steinbrenner, field. It was egregious. The guy reached over the wall and it became apparent on replay to seemingly everybody that there was some level of fan interference here. I want to play the audio from the

raise side of things, from the raised TV call because usually with the TV crews, they're pretty homerific. They'll try and lean in favor of the home team. And in this case, even the home team was kind of stunned at what was going on. This is about a minute 15 audio. Here's what we've got. This is the Brandon Lowe home run in the third that looked as though it should have been ruled out because of fan interference and I won't spoil what happened. Let the tape roll. And the high fly ball

back into deep right center field. Does it have enough? That ball is caught by a fan. Did the fan grab it? I think the fan reached over and made that grab and that ball

a home run off the bat Brandon Laugh. That didn't look right from up here. We'll get it obviously a much better look, but it looked like the fan definitely very definitive. Yeah, that's a reachover. Oh boy, he could have caught that too.

It's right here. Lucas is there to time it, and he reaches right out in front of his glove. That picture that we saw coming out. Right there. I mean, Lucas is positioned well, and the fan steals it. After you,

there is fan of parents, but the ball would have been a home run anyway. So it's a home run. Oh, there you come. There's a mistake. Fan interference, but it was a home run anyway. They split the difference. They did.

They did. Oh, my goodness. And now, John Snyder is not going to be happy with that. Did anybody have that on the bingo car? Fan interference, but it was going to be a homer anyway, so we'd give it a homer. Yeah. I don't think that's splitting the difference. I just want to point that out.

When I watch that, and I watch about three or four times, I'm like, How do you conclude after watching that that it was going to be a home run anyway? Yeah, because the Jay's fielder could have caught it. Was there? Lucas was right. You can jump. Lucas jumped.

His glove was there. And the fan's glove was also there. I don't know what angle, what replay, what video they had where someone looked at it and said, ah, it's going to be a home run anyway. It was a short enough wall, too,

that he could have leapt and, you know, got a couple feet over, too. So even if it was going to be a home run by a couple feet, probably still would have got his glove on it. It's not like the fan was like 50 feet tall and reached over and you know like and it would have been a home run definitely. Now the point is moot because the Jays went on to win the game

anyway. Ironically enough on a Lucas Dinger which also had fan interference but I don't understand why there's an arbitrary part of the rule where the ump can just be like eh it was going to be a home run anyway. If it's fan interference it's fan interference. Why are you getting so upset?

The J's won. But you're so up, you're, you're very ornery. The run differential. I'm not ornery. I'm trying to bring energy to the show and to say that this is an egregious flaunting of a rule. Sorry? But they won. Yes, I'm aware of that.

They won. They got spotted three runs because of that. Yeah, made them more exciting. But here's the thing. If you gave Hoffman a chance to come in under pressure. And he did make the save. Well, that's what I'm saying, right? Without that call, we don't have, we should thank the Oms.

No, we should thank the ums for putting. Hoffman in a pressure situation and putting the Jays in a pressure situation because they're going to need this practice for the postseason. Maybe I'm projecting the anger of the Jays fans because while everything is seemingly going well right now, they did get

I don't know if it's a great update, but it's not the worst on Bo Bichette's health yesterday. It's not great, man. It's not great. And I still part of me is like, why did you send them? Yeah. So why did you send them around third? Like Bo Bichette is going to miss the remainder of the regular season with a

PCL sprain in his left knee. Now, after getting not one but two opinions on the injury, it has been concluded that his left knee requires nothing more than, quote, rest and rehab. And that's courtesy the manager, John Schneider. Now, he actually went and got a second assessment on his knee from a knee specialist who also works for the NFL's Dallas Cowboys. So they're taking this very seriously. And the second opinion was that should he sit out, the 12th, 12 remaining games in the regular season,

it may provide him enough time to get healthy and get right and participate with the Jays in the playoffs. Now, back to your point that you've talked about, a lot about the Jays wanting to avoid the wild card in any of the early rounds of the playoffs, more time off equals more time off for Bo Bichette to rehab that knee. There's no question that they want to get him back in the lineup.

I know that they've done a decent job of platooning guys defensively in terms of having guys it's short, but his bat in the lineup, the consistency of it, and the need to have that in the playoffs. Like obviously it goes without saying you want him ready to go. And right now it seems that there's zero chance he'll be back in the regular season. And fingers crossed it, he'll be back for the postseason. Okay.

What do we got next? Oh, the white caps. Let's talk about quickly, quickly about the white caps because I watched a bit of this game last night. And the white caps look almost, it almost looked like they were playing a team from a different league. And they were, Jason. Right. Right. It did it look like they were playing a team from a lower league?

Yeah, lower league. Like maybe two leagues lower, actually. The white caps are off to the 2025 in their fourth consecutive Canadian championship final beating Forge FC from Hamilton. Tough Times, Laddie, 4-0 on Tuesday night at BC place. Now, unfortunately, the biggest story from this game was not the 4-0 victory and the 6-2 win on aggregate to get to their fourth consecutive Canadian championship. It was what happened in the 80th minute when Tristan Blackman, their all-star defender and recently capped U.S. centerback. And the guy who scored the winning goal. Went down with what appears to be a very, very serious knee injury.

So in the 80th minute, he was involved not necessarily in a tackle, but jockeying defender and then trying to stop. His foot skidded and slid on the turf when he tried to plant. And then it appeared when he got up from almost doing the splits, his knee buckled. He went down immediately in pain. A couple of his teammates immediately signaled for the sideline. And upon trying to get to his feet, he could not put any weight on his left knee. And the most telling part was that in a 3-0 lead at the time, which eventually got to 4-0,

the camera panned over to the white cap sideline, and everyone looked like they had seen a ghost. Like there were no smiles. Yeah. There was no happy vibes. Sorensen, who after the match confirmed that it was a knee injury and said that it doesn't look good. And it was on the same day that they got a pretty. positive update on Ryan Gald. Ryan Gald has returned

to full training. So I guess he got rid of the red non-contact jersey. I don't know if they do that with the White Caps. But he is now back as a full participant in training. But I'll say this. Without being two glass half empty or too pessimistic, this

is a death blow. I don't know if you can overcome this because they have now lost both of their centerbacks to serious knee injuries, having already lost Ranko Veselinovich. What's more? They already had to go out and make some moves, didn't they? And those guys were also hurt. The German international Sean Liao and the Belgian Jodric Coupe, if I got his name correctly, they're both hurt right now. Now, their injuries aren't thought to be long term,

but they also joined prior to the international break and one would think like the three week break would have given them enough time to get up to speed, but now they're hurt. It's devastating for the white caps. It's a huge gut punch. The only hope right now is that they get the imaging done and it's not a significant tear either of ligaments or the meniscus or something that'll keep him out for the remainder of the year.

But this late in the game with only six regular season games left in MLS. There's no argument that he should have been subbed off. There's an argument to be made for sure. Yeah. It's the 80th minute and a 3-0 victory

against the CPL team. But some guys have to play. Well, you can't sub everybody off. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. It wasn't like he hadn't made substitutions at that time. Right. Maybe, and I'm sure

Sorensen is probably kicking himself repeatedly for not making the move because you could have. There were defenders on the bench. That game was done and dusted. It's one of those things. I know people are going to say in the ugly,

the rearing of the ugly head about turf, and I don't think turf played, did anybody any favors in this one because of the way that he tried to plant, the way that his foot slid. So there's a lot of different things that go into it. The one thing that you can say definitively is this is a hammer blow for a team,

that has MLS Cup aspirations, and rightly so. Losing both of your centerbacks is a really tough thing to overcome. The only thing you can hope right now is that the imaging comes back and Blackman's knee injury isn't as serious as it looked last night. Okay, there was some Canucks news yesterday. The Canucks extended Mani Mulhotra, head coach of Abbotsford and the Calder Cup winning coach. They picked up his option, I guess.

That'll keep him coaching in Abbotsford through. 26, 27. So that's two more years with Manny Mahotra under contract in the HAL. That doesn't mean he's necessarily going to be coaching there for two more years because I'm sure there's outs if he wants an NHL job or something along those lines. Maybe he joins the Canucks bench. I don't know. But it is good that

Mani is staying with the organization because he is an up-and-coming coach and you would rather that part of your organization then a lot of people wondered if he was first of all going to get the Canucks job but that went to Adam Foote and after that went to Adam Foote a lot of people wondered well how long is he for the Canucks

organization? Remember that Dallas job was out there for a little bit he ultimately didn't get that job so he'll be back at the very least for next season as head coach of Abbotsford but he's a hot commodity in the NHL and sometimes those don't

last long but at least one more I know they extended him for two years But it's just it's like I don't know I actually I actually don't know how meaningful Picking up the option is for Malhotra Because it's kind of like yeah they they picked up his option But it still doesn't mean that another NHL team Won't poach him next off season

I think it was a good gesture to reward him for what he did Winning the Calder Cup last year It's security it's more security And if he doesn't get an NHL job although at the rate that NHL jobs get turned over, he could have one by December at this point, like if he's allowed to interview for other jobs. I haven't done the list yet,

and it's one of our favorite preseason activities, the ghouls at the Halford & Brough Show, the coach is most likely to be fired to start an NHL campaign. But you've got to imagine that alongside that list with a list of candidates to get an NHL job, man, he's got to be at the top of it, right? I mean, he's got to be one of the top four or five candidates

in hockey right now. It wouldn't be, It wouldn't be halfway through the year, though. He wouldn't just, like, leave the Abbott's first. Someone got fired. I'd be very curious about that to me. No, no, no, no. That would never happen.

You never know. Okay. You never know. Well, I think I do. When has that ever happened where a guy has just been like, I'm leaving another organization's HL team. I'd have to go back and check. Well, the Kinnocks wouldn't grant it.

They might. Why? Because it would be a nice gesture to a guy. Are you just being difficult this morning? I think Rod Brindamore could be. Do you have the list in front of you? I don't have a list I'm just thinking

I would be curious to see who the guys to get fired are I don't think manny's going to leave in the middle of an HL camp I always just look at the guys that have been around a long time Rod Jared Bednor in Colorado

Colorado doesn't start well I mean these are good coaches on good teams so maybe I should look at something else but it's like I don't know Andrew Brunette in Nashville that's a possibility I was surprised Brunette was back this yeah yeah maybe that's the guy

Yep, that could be one for sure. I think we've just been looking at a guy like Brendan Moore for a while because it's like they just can't get over the hump. Yeah, the thing with Carolina is like they're low. They seem quite loyal to him. And they're loathe to like pay a guy not to work for them. Yeah, so he could just ride out the string until his contract's up. How about Chris Knoblock in Edmonton when the Oilers and all this speculation around

Connor McDavid sinks their team? Yeah, that's a good one as well. I think every coach in Edmonton, the moment that they have a rough patch, it's like, well, can we get another guy in here? And like, is there another coach that McDavid had from his midget days maybe? I don't know. We could get him in the door, right? But those are some candidates for sure.

Okay, we are up against it for time. We have a programming update here on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet 650. We are going to go to New York to talk some New York Rangers. Jim Cernie from Blue Shirts Forever is going to join us. Longtime broadcaster, formerly of Sirius XM NHL. radio. So he will join us to talk about the news out of New York yesterday, that J.T. Miller became the newest captain of the New York Rangers, what the outlook is for this season, what the outlook is for Miller now that he takes over the sea from Jacob Trouble. We've got a lot more

to get into on the program. Don't go anywhere. You're listening to the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet, 650. 6.30 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. Halford Brough of the morning is brought to by Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal can get you on the road to being debt-free in just two weeks. This is them online at Sands. That's trustee.com. You've got some told you so. I don't do things like that. We are in Hour One of the program.

You do, and you're going to. Jim Serney from the New York Rangers. It's going to join us in just a moment here. For a little Rangers talk. Hour one of this program is brought to by North Star Metal Recycling. Vancouver's Premier Metal Recycler pays the highest prices on scrap metal. North Star Metal Recycling, they recycle. You get paid.

Visit them 1170 Powell Street in Vancouver. It was a weird little bit of chemistry in a way in the previous. segment because when I suggested that Manny Malhotra could leave mid-season to pursue an NHL job if one came calling, you said, that would never happen. And then we started looking at potential coaches to be fired. And you brought up Chris Knoblock in Edmonton. Okay, get to the told you so part. I don't, Jason, this isn't about chastising. This is about learning and growing together. What did you say at the break? As a radio show. I said, you're an idiot and I hate you um so knoblog was in fact one of those guys that left his a hl job midseason to take an

hl job just like a so long hartford yeah he's like thank god i was waiting to get out of here and then he went and took the job in emminton it didn't happen all that long ago so i suppose there is a recent precedent although i'm kind of with you it seems as though we need a lot of steps to happen before we got there right now, this is all about Manny accepting the extension to stay on as the Abbotsford-Kinnockson coach. And it's a very happy time for everyone on the eve of training camp. Okay, let's go now to the Power West Industries hotline. Jim Surney joins us now for a little rangers talk here on the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Jim.

How are you? Boys, how are you today? And listen, as a guy that's spent a little time in Hertford, I can tell you, Chris Knoblock did the right thing, getting on that first plane out of here. Okay, can confirm it was the right move. That's good. Okay, we wanted to be into Edmonton. Yeah, well, I was going to say, you know, all joking aside,

we do want to get you in the program. Thanks for doing this last minute because the J.T. Miller News obviously resonated it in a major way here yesterday in Vancouver. Were you under the impression that this news was coming when it was announced yesterday? And what was your reaction when J.T. Miller was handed the C for the upcoming campaign? Yeah, well, a couple things out of that. I don't think it was a massive surprise that J.T. Miller was in the 29th captain franchise history. You know, in particular because Chris Surrey, you know, swung this move last year.

Chris Surrey's been trying to get J.T. Miller, you know, back in New York for several years now. And obviously that window opened quite a bit last year and became, you know, a real opportunity for them. You know, so they've wanted him. and they wanted him to be a culture setter here because they felt it was, I've used this phrase before, it was too placid and too flaccid to that roster. And they needed the jolt of energy that J.T. brings. And they certainly did that in the second half of last season. So I wasn't surprised.

There were other certainly candidates, Vincent Trocheck, Adam Fox, were probably the other two guys in major considerations. The timing caught us all a little bit by surprise. Like, Chris Dury runs pretty cloak and dagger business here with the Rangers. So I don't think anybody knew that this announcement was coming yesterday, you know, on the eve of training camp. I will say it speaks to, I think, Chris Derry and the new coach, Mike Sullivan, wanting a clean, fresh start. Like, they didn't want this. Who's going to be captain? Are you even going to have a captain this season?

and they didn't want that hanging over training camp. I think they had a long enough offseason, a long enough runway since Sullivan was named coach in early May to talk this through and make this decision and not have it carry over into camp. So, you know, I think that, that in itself was a good decision. No matter who the captain was, it was the right decision. Do it before camp.

Let's go in. Here's our leadership group. Now let's get to work and try and play. with the disaster of, you know, last season behind us. Can you share your understanding of the dynamics of this Rangers team last season? Because there were times when we were like, does Chris Drury hate his team? And then we'd be like, follow up question, does the team hate Chris Drury? You know, he sent out that note to all the general managers that Trub was available,

but also that Kreider was available and the Crider one I think took us by surprise and I think it took a lot of Rangers fans by surprise maybe you can share some dynamics just on like what Drury thought and I know you already did a little bit

but maybe a little bit more on that and how they want J.T. Miller to solve that. Yeah so I you know I think the players feel and Mika Sabanajat certainly was probably the most vocal about it, especially at exit meetings last year, that management kind of took the legs

out from underneath this group, you know, a group that had gone to the conference final two of the previous three seasons was coming off a conference final run, but was a flawed team, especially defensively. And that was exposed to no end last year. So I think the issue is here is how Chris Jury handled his business, not so much the decisions that he made. You can argue the decisions were solid hockey decisions. Jacob Trubo wasn't worth $8 million a year. Rangers were up against the salary cap. He needed to open up cap space.

Barclay Gudra wasn't worth $3.5 million a year, and he was owed, you know, what, another three, four years of that. You know, so they put him on waivers without telling him that they were putting him on waivers. He gets claimed by San Jose. You know, jury has, you know, kind of an agreement in place with Mike Greer. And, you know, so it's how he went about the business, not so much about the decisions that he made. I think that got him into trouble. And then, you know, listen, it exposed a little bit of the soft underbelly of the Rangers, too, of that room that's,

that this really submarine their season. And so Jury's at fault, you know, for how he handle things. I call it lack of people skills. You know, he was so heavy-handed in how he handled Jacob Truba, who was extremely well-respected and liked within that dressing room. And ditto with Berkeley Goudreau, you know, he just thought he was doing the right thing. And I'd argue he did do the right thing in, opening up that cap space and moving on from the few veterans using them as the examples.

But it's just how he handled things, that that was the problem. And then, of course, you know, getting Chris Kreider's name out there publicly, you know, that was a major gas. I will say that Chris has handled his business completely differently. Like, he's a smart guy, and I think he learned his lessons, and he knows the role that he played in the collapse of this team last year. So he was much better about communicating this off-season. And, you know, with Chris Kreider talking with his camp, you know,

would you accept the trade to the Anaheim Ducks? This is what we're thinking. This is, you know, we need to move on here. I got to open up more cap space. You know, he was very transparent with Chris Kreider before trading him. Ditto with Keandre Miller's camp. In fact, Miller's agent praised the communication, lines of communication with Drury, about 180 from a year ago, how he handled his business.

So that's a big wind-up, you know, to getting to the point. And then the question you asked there about, how does J.T. you know, fit into this. Drury, I think, wanted J.T. Miller to be the captain. And, again, to be that tone-setter, to be the guy that leads and in change. changes the culture that that was here and change that locker room a little bit. Give it more of an edge, as certainly J.T. can do. Yes. But what he did was he met with the veterans of this team and got engaged what they were thinking.

Of course, with taking Sullivan's opinion as well in there. But he just didn't make a, you know, this decision just by himself. He took the input of the veterans and said, hey, we're thinking J.T. Miller is going to be our captain. How do you think the room is going to feel about this? So it was more of a collaborative thing. Yes, J.T's his guy, and he wanted J.T., but he wasn't going to shove J.T. down their throats as captain, the players, if they believed, oh, no, it's got to be Vincent Trocheck or, you know, Adam Fox. So he listened. The communication was better.

And I think that's how, you know, he wants to do his business from now on. Like I said, smart guy learned his lesson. I think throughout the summer, I think he had a really good offseason because he just handled his business better. Now, is J.T. Miller the right guy to be captain? He's certainly going to shake things up. It's very funny because, you know, I was with the Rangers back when they drafted J.T. and actually worked for them then. I was running their website.

And, you know, I got to know JT really well, and I really liked JT. But, boy, his first tenure with the Rangers, you would have never, there's not a day that you have ever predicted he'd be a future captain of your Rangers. Do you think A.V. predicted that? You know, there was an immaturity there.

There was just this hockiness and arrogance. against before he had really earned anything in the NHL. And listen, Rangers cut bait with them. You know, when they were doing their rebuild, they didn't say, oh, J.T. Miller is going to be a pillar. We're going to build around. You know, we're going to have this rebuild. We're going to open up cap space.

We're going to develop young players. We're going to get back to the draft. But what did they do? One of their first moves was that they traded J.T. Miller to the Tampa Day Lightning. So, you know, he's come a long way. you know, in the perception of the organization, and of course, jury is now in charge. He was the assistant GM then. But, you know, for me personally, looking at this and knowing J.T.

as an 18-year-old when he was drafted and him coming up, I would have never predicted this day. But, you know, he is a more mature guy here. There are question marks, though, about his approach. and certainly, you know, the Pedersen situation still kind of hangs over, you know, him being named captain here too. I thought Vincent Trocheck was the cleaner pick, but I always thought J.T. Miller would be the pick. Yeah. You know, Jim, you have to understand that J.T. Miller is, you know, unofficially in the Vancouver Sports Radio Hall of Fame for all the content that he has, he has, He has provided us, you know, there's many chapters to the J.T. Miller story. And this is honestly another chapter. We'll be watching closely, the J.T. Miller story in New York and Vancouver.

And, you know, whether it's fair or not to Elias Pedersen, you know, there are going to be some people that watch Pedersen and kind of pit him against J.T. Miller. And I know the Rangers are in Vancouver pretty early in the season, and that's going to be a huge game here. Maybe you could speak a little bit more about the risk that Chris Drury is taken because, you know, when J.T. Miller was on his game, he's a terrific hockey player. When he's not, he is not a good player and he is volatile. I think that's the best word to describe J.T. Miller is volatile. And the Rangers situation, correct me if I'm wrong, was already a little volatile. So you're naming a volatile captain to lead a group that went through a volatile season last.

year, and it could be good, but it could also be bad. Yeah, so J.T. is so rough around the edges, and I think Chris Derry sees part of that as a positive. It could be not so positive as well. And I think, boy, you nailed it when you said volatile. Listen, he was a couple years ago, he was among the elite in the NHL. and really, you know, that three-year stretch, you know, in Vancouver heading in. That's my fault because I just texted. This was a really good get. Good job, everybody.

And then we lost the call with Jim Serney. Yeah, Jim's good. We've got to get them back. Yeah, we'll work on getting them back. Jim Serney, New York Rangers reporter here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650 in the wake of J.T. Miller being named captain of the New York Rangers yesterday. And, you know, oftentimes we referred to the Rangers as the Vancouver Canucks of the East last year because of their dysfunction. because of the fact that they missed the playoffs

after having gone the previous season and I think having a room that felt fractured, right? You know, in their instance, I think it might have been more the room versus Drury as opposed to Vancouver where it was the guys in the room versus one another. But whatever the case, there was a lack of harmony and, you know, he was just about to talk about

how volatile the situation was. I am super intrigued by the notion, the concept, the idea of putting a, volatile leader among guys who already went through a season of volatility, right? Like he, you know, Jim said that, you know, Trocheque would have been the cleaner choice. That's a perfect way of putting it because, you know, no one's raising an eyebrow for Vincent Trochev, but we got Jim back on the line now. Okay, Jim, we lost you sort of mid-answer there, but you were talking about the volatility

of the entire situation, so maybe you can pick it up from there. Yeah. I mean, listen, I think that the one thing, among many things, among people, among people, positive attributes J.T. will bring is I think there's going to be a real sense of accountability with him as captain. Now, I think there was with Jacob Truba as well. I really thought Jacob Truba was a terrific captain. You know, but unfortunately, you know, his play diminished, wasn't worth the $8 million a year. You know, Rangers were in salary cap hell at the time. You know, so I understood moving on from him. But he wasn't a bad captain. If he wasn't a bad captain,

It's not like they need to, oh, boy, we've got to get a much better captain than him. But I think J.T. will bring accountability to this group because things totally fell apart last year. And part of it was Truba's fault, and I do call him a good captain, but he was not in a position to lead. He knew that the organization didn't want him. He knew that they were going to try and move him. They had already seen how heavy-handed, you know, the GM was, you know, with Berkeley Gujarro, getting him out of town. So, you know, Trooper admitted after the fact that he was not in the right state of mind to lead that team. So, you know, that created a fragility for a group that is fragile.

Boy, they're not fragile when they're going good. When they face adversity, and we saw it in the Eastern Conference final a couple years ago, You know, because Zvanajad kind of disappeared. Or Temi Panarin, where we see, you know, and this is part of your core leadership group. So, you know, that's where, you know, J.T., that accountability, that day-to-day intensity in the room on the ice, you know, I think will benefit the team. Now, I'd mentioned Trocheque before, and this is just plain devil's advocate. Trocheque brings that same kind of approach as J.T. He may not have the gravitas J.T. does.

He's not a 100-point player. He wasn't a first-round pick. Vincent Trochev's a really, really, really important player to this team. But I think he might have his finger on the pulse of things a little bit better. He's been here longer. I think he might be able to have the softer touch when needed. And I don't know that the foot is all. always on the gas. Because I don't think the foot can always be on the gas. And that's kind of,

that's kind of JT. And again, if it goes sideways, as it did in Vancouver last year, it really goes off a cliff. So I think the jury believes that surrounding J.T, I shouldn't say surrounding but kind of partnering him with Trochequech. Trocheque was elevated to an alternate captain. And they're good friends. They're good friends. They grew up in that Pittsburgh area together, you know, their lifelong friends are family friends and all that. I kind of was writing this this morning. To me, Trochecks going to be the consiglier, right? He's going to be like if Miller's the godfather, who's going to be his right-hand guy?

Who's going to deal with the media more or in a more pleasant way or on a more regular basis? You know, the things that, listen, J.T.'s not crazy about. J.T. doesn't want to sit there, you know, 365 days a year and talk with the media and answer the same questions over and over. He'll do it, and he'll do it as a leader, but he wants no part of it. Procheck, that's a tremendous strength of his. And he stepped up in that role after Truba was traded last year. So I see Trocheck actually playing a very, very big role alongside Miller, kind of as in the leadership tandem. And because I think J.T trusts Trochecks so much, I think that if J.T. starts veering off or if it starts to go sideways at all, I think Trocheque can kind of rein him in. And I think that's a very, very important part of this equation as far as the Ranger leadership group. this year. I'm just going to imagine Trocheque as Robert Duval now.

He's a wartime consuliereir. I don't know. Listen, anytime I can get in a Godfather reference, I'm all about it. What happened to Mika Zabanajad? Was it just last season,

or has it been a decline for a couple of years? Because he's so important to them and I guess the plan might be to bump him to the wing now, but you know, they need a better season from him. Yeah. So I went back.

I saw an article I wrote a couple years ago, and it was in the playoffs. And I think I forget what the headline was, but the gist of it was that, yes, Igor is Igor is Schisturkin, is Igor Shisterc, and Adam Fox is Adam Fox, Paneran, but the Rangers tend to go as Mika Zabanajad goes. and he was nowhere in that Eastern Conference final against Florida. He shriveled up, you know, and disappeared. It was not a factor. There's also been an argument that his game has declined the past couple of years

because he's played so many minutes as, you know, as the number one center defending against number one centers in the league and that that may have taken something away from his overall game, that it wears them down, and his offensive numbers have gone down the past season as his, you know, his minutes had gone up, you know, in that role defending against top centers in the league. So, you know, when J.T. arrived last year, Zabanajad was really given a new life, and it would have been one way or the other. It would have been if they had the three centers, you know, J.T. Trocheck and Zabandad in whatever order you wanted to put them, that was going to free the Sabanajad up, you know, probably from those defensive responsibilities and, you know, in theory could have changed his game round.

Or they could put him on the wing with J.T., which is pretty much what they did the rest of the season. And he flourished. And the game opened up for him. He had less defensive responsibility. You know, J.T., you know, we say a lot of things about him. but, you know, he's a heck of a playmaker, and, you know, they had a really nice chemistry together. And that's the plan going into training camp this year, according to Mike Sullivan, you know, that that's going to be meet his role. So maybe there's a big bounce pack season here for him offensively.

The issue with him, and we talked about things going sideways, last year, this team went, you know, going back to that phrase I use, this team goes as meeked. Mika goes, Mika, I called him Mopey Mika last year, you know, oh, you're picking on my best friend, Chris Kreider, oh, Chris Dory's treating us terribly, oh, management this, and you just saw it, he'd go on the ice, and the shoulders are sagging, his heads down, and he's going half speed, and I don't mean to be disrespectful, but he was healthy, and he was not playing like Mika's a bad jet. And the team took on his personality, which at that point was just a down-mopee personality. And the team, you know, which already was compromised, not really a good defensive team and what have you. It just followed suit. Man, the Rangers truly were the Canucks of the East last season. Like the things you're saying. The parallels are incredible.

It is incredible. Jim, we're up against it for time, but I'd really like to check in with you 20 games into the season, or maybe right before the Rangers play the Canucks in Vancouver, the end of October, because this has been a

fascinating chat, and I'm sure everyone in Vancouver is going to be following the Rangers purely out of curiosity. Absolutely. I'd love to join you again. This is a lot of fun. Thanks for doing this, Jim. We appreciate it. That's Jim Sernie. Rangers writer from Forever Blue Shirts here on the Halford & Brough show on Sportsnet,

650. A mopey sweet? J.T. Miller's going to get along with them super well. Mopey Mika is such a good Trump nickname. That is too. Okay, we got a lot to get into still on the program. Coming up on the other side of the break, more NHL

talk to come. Frank Sarah Valley, noted NHL Insider. We're going to whip around some of the big stories that are, now that everyone's getting to training camp, a lot of stories going around the National Hockey League. That's coming up at 7. 7.30, Nat Domiceli. The new general manager of the Vancouver Giants is going to join the program. 8 o'clock. Randeep Jand is going to join us ahead of 10 o'clock. 10 o'clock this morning. Canucks are going to do their beginning. First of the year, media

availability with Jim Rutherford, Patrick Alvin, and Adam Footh all at the podium. So there's lots to get into NHL and Canucks. Tons of hockey talk on the horizon. Before we go to break, I need to remind you that training camp gets underway tomorrow, although today's kind of the official start of it. All training camp connects training camp coverage on Sportsnet 650 comes courtesy pastime sports and games. For the latest in hockey cards, sports memorabilia, and upcoming in-person autograph sessions, visit pastimesports.ca, where customer service is their top priority. You're listening to the Halford & Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.